Here are the morning papers for Monday the 22nd of September:
- Michael Cammalleri loves the passion of the Calgary fans. Here are five questions with Flames prospect John Negrin. This could be a make-or-break season for Flames pest Brandon Prust. Even though he is on a two-way contract, Dustin Boyd remains confident that he can make the Calgary roster.
- The Avalanche plan on playing up-tempo hockey this season, writes Terry Frei. If the Avs want to play that style, they will need their young players to be healthy and right now they are a little banged up. The team starts its pre-season play tonight versus the Canucks.
- The fourth line center position is up for grabs for some Wild youngsters if they can earn it, writes Michael Russo. The Wild brought in Craig Weller for the “presence” he brings to the ice.
- Erik Cole is looking great at Oilers camp so far, writes Joanne Ireland of the Edmonton Journal. In fact, so has Robert Nilsson. Getting tickets to Oilers regular season games is pretty darn difficult.
- Craig Hartsburg wants to use both of his goalies this season, so it is up to Alex Auld to impress him with his play starting tonight versus the Rangers. As of now, Auld is slated to play less games than Martin Gerber.
- Leafs netminder Curtis Joseph admits that he now relies far more on the technical side of the game than his athleticism. The Buds have some extremely talented young forwards who could crack the opening night roster.
- With the off-season departures of Markus Naslund, Trevor Linden and Brendan Morrison the culture of the Canucks dressing room has changed significantly. Kyle Wellwood is in bad shape and Alain Vigneault is not impressed. The Sedin brothers want to see more offense from the Canucks’ forward group this season. Cody Hodgson has impressed his Vancouver teammates.
- Alex Kovalev does not feel like he has to prove anything to anyone, writes Dave Stubbs.
- The Ducks are expecting a big season from a healthy Samuel Pahlsson in 2008/09.
- Manny Fernandez is very excited to finally get back into game action tonight and prove he can return to old form, writes Barbara Matson. Mark Stuart was one of the Bruins’ pleasant surprises last season and he is hoping to improve even more this season.
- Derek Roy was great for the Sabres last year but he always feels like you can get better, writes Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News.
- Dan LaCouture and Jeff O’Neill are in fairly similar situations, as they both try and crack the Hurricanes roster.
- Listening to Ken Hitchcock for a while makes you realize that he is a hard guy not to believe in, explains Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch. Richard Matvichuk has come to Jackets camp with a great attitude and has been taking the time to help the team’s young players out with their games. Expect Ken Hitchcock to map out which games backup netminder Fredrik Norrena will play prior to the season.
- One of Loui Eriksson has really come into his own and throughtout his develeopment one of his biggest backers has been Stars GM Les Jackson.
- Steve Yzerman realizes that if he wants to pursue a GM spot, it may be with a team other than Detroit. On the ice, Aaron Downey hit Valtteri Filppula and the Finnish forward injured his thumb. Meanwhile at Wings camp, Jiri Hudler has jumped up to a line with Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen.
- Tomas Vokoun feels far more comfortable this season than he did last season, which was his first in Florida, explains George Richards. Jay Bouwmeester is telling anyone who will listen that his contract situation will not be a distraction.
- Here are some notes about the Predators.
- Brian Rolston claims he isn’t the number one center in Jersey because there are so many good players there is no need for that designation.
- New Islanders coach Scott Gordon doesn’t necessarily believe in having an enforcer on the roster at all times.
- The exhibition games are coming fast and furious for the Flyers and the rest of the NHL, writes Ed Moran.
- Al Montoya is going into Coyotes camp with the mindset that he will make the team.
- Sharks checking center Torrey Mitchell broke his leg and will now miss the next 8 weeks of action.
- The Blues are ready for pre-season action, writes Jeremy Rutherford.
- Barry Melrose wants to decrease the ice-time of Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis this season. On the back-end, the Bolts have been impressed with the play of youngster Janne Niskala.
- Sergei Gonchar is set to undergo an MRI this week and there is just no way to downplay how much this injury could affect the start to the season for the Pens. Here are Dave Molinari’s thoughts on Janne Pesonen.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.
**Be sure to check out Illegal Curve’s second podcast, where we preview the Eastern Conference, later this afternoon**